It's Beginning to Taste a Lot Like Christmas

My trip to the oral surgeon was successful this morning. The doctor confirmed my suspicions that I had developed the dreaded dry socket (although a pretty mild case). For the sake of your eyes, don't Google image the term. The results are disturbing. In short, all that means is that my body somehow dissolved (or I dislodged) the clot that protects the spot where my wisdom tooth used to live. That pretty much leaves nothing but air between the world and my unhealed jaw bone. Jaw bones aren't used to feeling air, so that causes them to scream. Luckily, mine was merely refraining from using its inside voice by the time I got to the office.

To provide a barrier and some relief, the oral surgeon placed what looked like fine tufts of chewing tobacco in the spot that hurt. In reality it was some sort of dissolving dressing soaked in clove oil. Clove oil? Really? Amazingly, it provided instant relief that (knock on wood) is still going. The oral surgeon said it should last for a couple of days and by that time I should be healing on my own. He swore to me that people usually don't have to come back for a second round. However, one side effect of my miracle dressing is that I constantly taste cloves. It was pretty intense at first and actually made me a little nauseous, but has mellowed out over the course of the day, so I don't mind.

I was thinking this afternoon that instead of dry socket, I'll call it my Christmas socket, since it tastes like mulling spices. Maybe I'll have a glass of warm apple cider after dinner to enhance the experience. I will also raise my glass to the oil of cloves for restoring my sanity!